Cardinia Council has welcomed new crime statistics showing an 11 per cent drop in reports of family violence in the shire, suggesting the Together We Can program has made a difference.

According to the council, the new statistics put the local government area as the fourth worst for family violence reports in the southern metropolitan region – an improvement on its previous position of second worst.

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“Cardinia Shire was the only LGA in the [region] to have recorded a decrease in the rate of family violence offences,” mayor Brett Owen said in a media release.

“Council strongly believes that this is, in part, a result of the combined efforts of collective impact initiative Together We Can, and changes in the focus of governments and local organisations to actively stop, prevent, and end family violence in Cardinia Shire.”

Together We Can is a Cardinia Shire-focussed project set up to find local solutions to the problem of family violence.

A council spokesperson said a 2016 report suggested Cardinia had the “highest number of recurring victims in Victoria, and under-reporting is estimated to be at around 30 per cent of all cases.”